US-China trade war shows signs of cooling after partial easing of tariffs

China and the US have agreed to phase out some tariffs in a move that could lead to a deal and an end to the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

The news has helped eased investors’ concerns, prompting stocks to rise, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining more than 270 points to 27,753 on Thursday, while the S&P 500 climbed 20 points to 3,097 – its second all-time high of the week.

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US-China deal could see growth forecasts revised, IMF says

The prospect of a US-China trade deal prompted officials at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to consider revising global growth forecasts for next year.

A spokesman for the IMF said that a rolling back of some tariffs had the potential to improve its economic forecasts for 2020, with the ongoing trade war between the two countries having a significant impact on global growth this year.

‘We see it has holding potential to improve our baseline forecast,’ the IMF spokesperson said. ‘But again, we need to wait for the details.’

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Chinese officials keen to roll back tariffs in phases

A spokesman from the Chinese commerce ministry said that Beijing and Washington hope to remove tariffs in phases, with China looking to roll back $360 billion worth of taxes on Chinese imports.

‘In the past two weeks, top negotiators had serious, constructive discussions and agreed to remove the additional tariffs in phases as progress is made on the agreement,’ the spokesman, Gao Feng, said.

‘If China, US reach a phase-one deal, both sides should roll back existing additional tariffs in the same proportion simultaneously.’